News

Life sentence for killer of taxi driver

ONE of Ulster’s most brutal and prolific sectarian killers has received a life sentence for the murder of a taxi driver.

Clifford McKeown was sentenced on evidence from a journalist to whom he boasted of killing the young Catholic as a “birthday present” for Billy “King Rat” Wright, founder of the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

The journalist, Nick Martin-Clark, had promised McKeown confidentiality but decided to break his undertaking after hearing the grisly details of the shooting. The Londoner’s account of the meeting, which was printed in The Sunday Times in December 1999, sparked a police inquiry that eventually led to the trial.

Martin-Clark faced 30 hours of cross-examination as McKeown’s defence lawyers attempted to undermine his credibility. He must now live under a witness protection scheme for the rest of his life.

Martin-Clark approached McKeown, in jail for armed robbery, in an attempt to gather information on alleged collusion between